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With little more to go on than that cautious employers are now trying to obtain more information from whatever sources are available, and that includes the credit bureaus. It may not be fair to assume automatically that someone’s poor score necessarily makes them an employment risk, but that, in essence is what is happening. If you are a victim of identity theft and have had thousands of dollars stolen in your name by a total stranger, you may find a job difficult to obtain.
What can you do? For starters, obtain a copy of your credit report. Look it over and check for errors. Errors may include accounts that you do not have, debts that you do not owe, or even something as simple as a wrong address or date of birth. If you see errors, contact the credit bureau and see to it that they correct it. It may take a few months to correct mistakes, so don’t procrastinate. If you see old debts that you may have forgotten about, you should probably make arrangements to pay them. You should also make a point of paying all of your bills on time from this day forward.
Companies are equating financial responsibility with office responsibility. They figure, rightly or wrongly, that if you cannot keep your affairs in order at home then you likely will have trouble doing the same at the office. Companies want responsible people, and rightly or wrongly, they are using credit reports as the filter to make that determination.
If you have a job and anticipate making a change, it would make good sense to start checking your credit report about six months to a year ahead of time. As nice as it would be if the credit bureaus could correct mistakes right away, it often takes anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to make changes. Even then, other mistakes may occur, or the changes may themselves be incorrect. Fixing mistakes on your credit report requires both patience and diligence.
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